Irish Blessing
May the road rise to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face. May the rains fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the hollow of His hand!
Celtic music has been playing here the past few days as we approach St. Patrick's day. Usually our family actually goes to a favorite Irish Family Pub in Colorado Springs to watch the local teams of dancers perform, to eat fish and chips and to hear Celtic bands to delight us all. We have some Scotch-Irish relatives and Scottish as well as those from the middle of England. We have celebrated this day since we read a great biography many years ago about St. Patrick and his evangelizing heart.(Sorry, I can't find the book now and don't know which one it was.) What a fun tradition for us this has been.
I couldn't resist putting some St. Patrick Day favorite quotes and recipes on my blog today. His story is one of my favorites of the many biographies I read to the kids over the years. Be sure to research him and tell about him at your dinner table in the next couple of days!
One year not too long ago, we spent the day in one of our favorite cities. The girls and I always loved spending time in Asheville, NC--the place that, as Sarah says, "feels so much like home to us!" We did this for a number of years, going back to all of our favorite places to rest and restore. Sleeping, eating, sleeping, walking, sleeping, eating--that always seemed to be the order of our days there!
The Early Girl Eatery, recommended by Rachel Ray, was a first stop--lots of great veggie dishes--black bean and sweet potato cakes, spinach salad with apples, goat cheese and pecans. Then on to the Biltmore to hike, and the next stop was crab and corn chowder at the Corner Kitchen--and splitting a Reuben sandwich.
We also often went to our friend's home for a St. Patrick Day cooking demonstration. She does this several times a year and while they were home, we'd never miss. I wanted to pass on a bread recipe that I love! It is Irish and if you want to delight your children, you can even put just a tiny bit--few drops--of green food coloring and make it green bread.
Irish Freckle Bread
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees
In the Bosch bowl (or any mixer) with dough hook, place:
2 cups hot water
1 cups unbleached white flour
2 Tbsp. yeast
1/3 cups maple syrup or honey
Mix thoroughly. Then add:
2 slightly beaten eggs 1/2 cups dried currants
1 Tbsp. Real salt 1 cups of grated carrots
1/4 cup oil 1/2 cup dried pineapple snipped in small pieces
3/4 cup golden raisins
Add 4-4 1/2 cups freshly ground flour to very slightly clean the sides of the bowl. If you add too much, it will be too dry--so just slowly add it at the last until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl as it is mixing. The dough should be a bit sticky. Knead 5 minutes. Shape into a free-formed loaf, or place in loaf pan. Brush with egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 Tbsp. water.) Let bread rise until double in size.
It makes a lovely, large round loaf.
Lower heat to 350 degrees. Bake for 35-40 minutes.
Enjoy!
Also, thought I would catch some of you up on my eye (the fall I had) and a little bit from Joel and Clay for a fun podcast today.
